While I was at a real estate photo shoot for my wife I wandered around the acreage and came across this old barn. I really liked the colour and texture in the old wood. I liked how it was leaning and the added bonus was when I saw the reflection in the window. I uploaded both into my old friend photomatix and was able to enhance the reflection even more. Remember to click on the image to see a larger image.
Leanin’ A Little
Reflection
I decided to give the Cuba images a rest. For some of you in different locations around the world you are saying to yourself, “Spring is here? It has been here for a month.” Well spring in Western Canada can start in March and take until June to get started, with +20 temperatures one day and the next day snow. One of the first signs of spring starting of course is the pussy willow and the crocus. The crocus is a hardy little flower that combats the cold nights and possible snow and frost by growing low to the ground to capture ground heat. The plants are also covered with tiny hairs that help insulate the plant. So to photograph them you have to get low. I lay on my stomach for this shot. I have also found that shooting with back light really highlights the fine hairs, making them glow. Of course I always use a polarizing filter when shooting flowers to reduce glare. These are not wild crocuses, but are in my wife’s garden. This far west in the foothills we do not normally see wild crocuses. They are more common on the prairies.
Come on spring…
Crocuses
Palm Trees outside our room at La Laguna Resort, Cayo Coco, Cuba
Not much to say. Just playing with HDR still. I think I am addicted to Photomatix.
By now you know I am a fan of Photomatix and HDR. I continually am amazed with the results I get from bracketing and processing HDR images. This weekend I played around with this great image of Darlene sitting watching the sunrise on the beach at La Laguna, Cayo Coco, Cuba. I tried all three different styles available in Photomatix. Darlene likes the original. She feels the visible foreground is distracting and likes the more silhouette look. I kind of agree, but from a photography point I am very impressed with the detail I can pull from the shadows with HDR. There is no way the camera on its own would be able to expose for the sunrise and the foreground. I also love the colour I can pull into the image. Of course I bracketed the image (+2, 0, -2). Have a peek and let me know which you prefer.
Original unedited image.
This is the original image right out of my camera. There was no photoshop editing done to it. It was the underexposed image from the bracketing.
Tonemapped detail image
This is the tonemapped detail image. It is the process that will give the “grungy” extreme colour images. Look at the detail in the sand. While you may not favour this look you have to admire the detail that can be pulled from the bright sunrise and the dark foreground. Thirty years ago our best cameras and slide film would never have been able to create this image.
tonemapped compressor image
This is the tonemapped compressor image. Compressor images typically will give a more normal look without the extremes.
fused image
This is the fused image. A fused image is not a true HDR but simply takes detail from the highs and lows and blends them. It is often used by landscape photographers to create a more natural look.
So which do you like?
Just got back from 10 wonderful days in Cuba. Beach, snorkeling, rum drinks, salsa dancing (well maybe not me, but I watched others dance) and photography. After the sunrises, beach photos, old buildings in Trinidad, etc. every photographer knows the old cars in Cuba make for awesome subjects. I saw lots of old cars and managed three good images. I could not wait to HDR my car images. I promise I’ll share my other photos, but for now here are my car shots. All were processed using photomatix painterly to give them a little grunge look. Our guide told me about the old cars. When the revolution occurred farm land was redistributed equally so big land owners lost, but peasants gained. Private businesses were taken over by the state, so business owners were upset and many of them were the ones who fled to Miami. However personal property such as homes and cars were left with the original owners. So if a family had an old car it was kept in the family and passed down to younger generations or perhaps sold to someone else. Many people started using them as taxis to help pay the car bills. Many of them have had the original engines replaced. Some with diesel engines even.
The owners often want money to take a photo of their car. This guy figured I wanted to take a photo so he would not leave the car. I had to stand a long ways off and pretend to shoot something else and then zoom in on his car.
I could not crop out the distracting background so I used my eliptical selection tool to select the car and then darkened around it to get rid of the distractions.
This sweet Chevy was beautifully cared for. It is a taxi and now has a Mitsubushi engine in it and a GPS on the dash.
My apologies to CCR for stealing their line. The last year or so I have been trying to shoot more images in my own backyard. I have read a lot of photographic authors over the years such as Freeman Patterson and Courtney Milne who encourage readers to explore the world that was close at hand. They said you did not need exotic locations to create great images. Patterson spent a lot of years shooting the woods around his home in New Brusnwick, while Milne shot a pond in his backyard. I am blessed to live on a quarter section of land that over the seasons always provide me with inspiring scenes. Darlene’s flower garden has always been one of my favorite places to spend summer mornings or evenings shooting. This winter I have sat a lot of mornings eating my cereal admiring the incredible sunrises I see out my east door and windows. So when the local camera club suggested sunrises and sunsets for our next assignment I grabbed my camera and made the big trek out to my deck and grabbed these sunrises.
I bracketed all of my shots, 0, +2 and -2. I then combined them in photomatix. I uploaded them to photoshop and cropped a little and tweaked the contrast with either levels or curves. Finally hue and saturation brought out the subtle pinks that my camera seemed to miss. The oranges in sunrises seem to really dominant over the pinks.
So, you do not have to go to the tropics to get great sunrise images. Don’t get me wrong I am not going to pass up a trip to the tropics to shoot sunrises on my deck. I am always amazed at how fast the colour show changes with sunrises. The above image was only 5 minutes after the first two. If you sleep in you will get up and not be aware of what you might have missed. That is also why I like this time of year, sunrises are when I am up. For some reason I never seem to see those sunrises in June. Wonder why?
The final image (the mountain sunset cropped to look like a panorama) in my last post below has been used by CRI Realty in Sundre on the front cover of file folders that will be given to clients. Before you get too excited and suggest I should now retire and make a living selling photos I think I donated the image. I don’t I will get any hard cash. The image does have my name and this blog address below it, so I will get some cool publicity. And I plan to steal a few of the folders to show around.
photoshop cropped to look like a panorama
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